DJ Anomaly :: Mountains Rise :: Tocdim Productions
as reviewed by John Book

In hip-hop, calling yourself a DJ takes a bit of
pride, especially when you are able to manipulate the
contents of your crates into something completely new.
Yet there is a generation of rap music fans who have
no idea of the importance of the man behind the two
turntables. It is safe to say that the music by DJ
Anomaly is not for them and never will be.
Being "DJ anything" will often give you higher
expectations when you put your skills in album form,
because not only are you creating an audio resume, but
fans want to hear tight music. "Mountains Rise" is an
album that comes close to being flawless, and it makes
me wonder why more people haven't tapped into this
formula. Perhaps DJ Anomaly is not for them and never
will be.

"Mountains Rise" shines the spotlight on this
Chicago-based DJ, who in turn fills his album with rap
tracks featuring the likes of Rusty Chains, Longshot,
Ndvisual, and Vyle among others. By doing this, he
gets a chance to let the world hear some underground
MC's, at the same time making people hear what he's
about in the production department. Anomaly's choice
of samples are very clever, combining hard and fierce
beats with some trippy ethereal sounds and odd bits
that make the music as deep as the lyrics found within
the songs. He doesn't dominate in one style, so if
you're in the mood for mellow jazz you'll listen to
"The Day The Herb Stood Still" or if you're in the
mood for incidental soundtrack music, listen to "How I
Hit 'Em".

If Pink Floyd were a hip-hop production crew, they'd
probably create something like "Death", featuring the
talents of Rusty Chains. Here, Rusty Chains talks
about something that none of us can escape. He has a
voice that is very rough and raspy, and because of
that you can't help but listen to every word he says.
The first verse touches on how we can be affected by
death on the surface, and then he rips into the second
verse where he's talking about brains on kitchen
floors, children getting hit by cars when they're
playing ball in the road, and gas tanks exploding.
The revelation in the song is after hearing all of
this, he says to "keep in mind (in) the afterlife that
a child was just born". Circle of life, indeed.

Anomaly gets everyone to participate in one of the
tightest posse tracks I've heard in awhile, "Steady
Tweakin'". Lately when this writer hears a crew
spitting lyrics, they sound boring and I'm not
motivated to hear anymore. Here, when Longshot passes
the mic to Rusty Chains (whose "attitude is fuck you,
smash you with a 1-2/smackin' little ones who think
rap is just a hustle/you make the business dirty while
you're draggin' all that mud through") you know it's
going to be intense. Anomaly creates a headnodder by
making a beat with a slight late 80's vibe, and he
enhances each rapper with appropriate samples and
scratches. The rapper to look out for is Ndvisual,
because while each rapper tries to top the man who
came before, Ndvisual pretty much does his best to
make "Steady Tweakin'" his own:

"Self scientific, brain nutritious, flow terrific
I rap in general but man, I know specifics
Watch me dance with the beat and still stand out vicious
These crumbs step up to the table with food and dishes
Peep game, I speak strange, walk wicked and do different
I got suede Tim's but these motherfuckers are shitty
I want it all, I am, I don't want to look gritty
Peace to Biggie, down before it was wack to be jiggy"

The MC's he chooses are top notch, but he allows
himself to take in the shine of the spotlight in five
of the 15 tracks on here. Anomaly knows how to knock
out beats, but in his own solo tracks he shows that he
can create some powerful pieces that stand out in
their own right. Fans of Nobody, Diplo, and Quantic
will get into his choice of samples, where he gets
very thematic and dramatic, creating mental movies
that takes a certain skill and talent to do. What
makes Anomaly even more interesting is that he applies
these same techniques with the rap tracks, so this
album isn't lopsided as other DJ-oriented albums tend
to be. If "Gutter Language", featuring Longshot,
doesn't impress hip-hop elitists, I don't know what
will. By ending the album with this song, Anomaly
shows he can be musically complex, equal to the
lyrical genius of Longshot's verses. It's almost a
DJ/MC competition, a friendly one at that, where they
compliment each other to where it becomes nothing more
than playtime. Except in this case, the toy box has a
couple of mics, RCA chords from Radio Shack, and a
bunch of dusty records.

"Mountains Rise" shows that DJ Anomaly is definitely
not a follower. He should set an example for many of
today's artists who are making money off of lazy
production and beats. Then again, DJ Anomaly is not
for them and never will be.